This Article hit Home with me…


When a Patriotic American becomes an Expatriate you Know it’s Time to Escape From America…

Susan Beverley: I am sorry to start off with this question, but there is a small part of our audience that will want to know this: Do you hate America?

Dave vonKleist: Maybe that part of the audience is not so small, because that question is raised frequently. I fought for many years and tried to contribute to the effort to bring the USA to what it once was and to bring attention to the problems our government and country was experiencing. This resulted in small minded individuals coming to the conclusion that I must somehow hated my country, when in fact it is my love for my country that motivated me to draw attention to its weakness in the hopes that we could correct the direction it was taking. For many of us who became vocal activists, we had to endure the same negative assumptions that we endure now as expats. If those who had been active participants in the rumor mongering and ridicule game had directed their efforts in to effecting the real change, it is likely people such as myself would not have felt the need to become expats. If someone truly loves their country, then it is their duty to do all they can to correct problems as they develop, rather than condemn those with the courage to do so. Sadly, the majority of the American “sheeple” fail to understand this essential philosophy, which is why things have gotten so bad and folks like myself are pegged as “hating their country”. Those who parrot and subscribe to the phrase, “America, love it or leave it” are a major reason why things have gotten so bad.

To answer your question, I do not hate America – I hate what America has become. The corruption and the deprivation of our civil rights have destroyed my personal American dream.

Read complete interview:

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

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Truth Hurts at the United Nations Meeting…


The truth hurts and it shows when the children (Western Empire) walk out of the room. Regardless of what we’ve been programed to think about Ahmadinejad here in the USA, he brings up serous points and I’d like to hear how the Western world leaders respond to the serious questions that have been raised…

I have never in my life seen such a childish thing as to what the countries from the Western world did. The USA led the procession and were followed by France and Britain. They decided that they did not have to hear what Iran had to say. That is wrong because unlike us lowly peons that are plentiful in the world. These people who have jobs as important delegates fronting the world stage. They have to have skin as thick as leather and be tough as nails. In this case I feel that the West stands and spouts the propaganda and rhetoric that they are number 1 and democracy is the cats meow. They need to take it when the going gets tough…

This is something that I have written about before and now you see a real rift that has developed between the East and West. This rift is real, not made up and the people in the East see a whole different side of the Western Empire that the West can not accept and face as any form of reality…

Russia and China did not walk out and from what I am seeing on LiveJournal and such type of Russian social networks. The Eastern opinion of the West just dropped as fast as the stock market did yesterday…

By the way like it or not, Ahmadinejad had some good points. Even though he can rile up the soul a little bit. He knew what he was telling and is no fool when it comes to facts. It is just that those facts are unsaid and muted in the West and said daily and openly in the East. That is what is partly separating the West and East…

I have seen so many warmonger articles from the West lately that I am beginning to wonder if the Western world has slipped a cog lately. It seems that we are in a repeat of history and the Holy Wars and such are going full tilt again…

When can we grow up and become civilized?

Anyway: The theatrical walk out by the US and her allies was very childish!

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: The Russian commentators are discussing a good point on line. The West (USA) likes to retaliate and now the question is when will Iran get theirs…

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Are the BRICS considering buying the euro debt?


BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the fastest-developing emerging economies, are meeting in Washington to talk over the ways of helping out the eurozone debt crisis, which has still no actual solution and no end in sight. Recently, South Africa has suggested that BRICS countries buy euro bonds to help out Europe. Maksim Shein, an analyst at Brokkreditservis in Moscow, thinks it’s the only and most obvious idea they can put forward at the moment and the option that European countries themselves hope for. However, the consequences of buying European debt are not very clear…
Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/22/56570109.html

Windows to Russia!

The Plans for a Turkey Vacation are Formulated and Finalized…


I have to say that I am totally surprised at the price of a vacation for Sveta and I to go to Turkey for 14 days. Airline tickets for two, hotel is three star, all food included (three meals, plus two snack times) and it is located 50 meters from the beach. Price is around 800 American dollars for two…

Russians have a huge array of specials at their disposal to travel in Turkey and they are reasonably priced. We could go even cheaper but decided for the middle of the road and get near the beach. We also could go much more expensive, but that seems like a waste of money to Sveta and I…

So it looks like we will be leaving around the first of October and returning sometime in the middle of October. Here is a good site to give some information about Turkey…  Article >>>

It looks like Sveta and I both have to have a visa but it is a formality at the border. The cost is 20 American dollars each. The border visa is good for 90 days and that is definitely enough…

We decided last night to go to the Mediterranean side. It looks to be the best choice for this time of the year. I looked last night and temperatures are lower thirties right now. That sounds good to Sveta because Moscow is trying to stay in the single digits especially at night. That is centigrade by the way…

We definitely will have WiFi and I plan on posting about Windows to Russia trying out one of Russia’s favorite vacation countries – Turkey…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

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Kremlin: The New / Old Bases of Power…


Mr Putin had this to say: “The purpose of the People’s Front is to supply Parliament with fresh blood. Its creation has also brought fresh blood to the United Russia party. I hope the party will continue to support this process, with a view to stimulating political vigor in its ranks.”

Hummm, from my studying of the situation. I see just a revamp of the old into a new package and it is working. Putin’s power-base has grown exponentially…

Everyone equates this move to a presidential run by Putin. I am not so sure anymore about if he will run for president again. He might and has every right to run and most likely will, if he so desires. But why run for president of Russia when he is in charge of Russia anyway? (That is my opinion only and really think he will run for president anyway regardless of what I think. :))

You must understand that you have to look at the ruling tandem in Russia in a simplified way, not the complicated way that the West tries to look at it. Medvedev is in charge of foreign affairs and Putin is in charge of internal affairs. That is the part (internal government) that Putin wants anyway. I do not see Putin as being a happy go lucky man of international delight. Medvedev on the other hand adores traipsing around the world…

So while the Western world is mortified at the thought that Putin will take the command chair of presidency again! That is not where the real power, at this moment in Russia is located. If he did take the presidency again then I assure you that international and internal affairs would fall under the president again…

I am seeing the possibility of Medvedev staying right where he is at as president of Russia. He is the Western loved face that the West wants to see. Putin in the meantime has built his power-base not to take over presidency again but make his position one of raw power with in Russia’s borders…

It is the same thing to me that happens with a large school district in America. You have a superintendent, principle and vice principles. The superintendent who is the top dog on paper is only a political figurehead but he is the top dog. Then you have a principle that is the more localized figurehead. He is half political and half hands on. Then the people who run the big school are the vice principles. He does all the dirty work and deals with all the crap that makes a school run. The saying that you are only as good as your employees is very true. Russia reminds me of that type of system…

I have done some thinking’s and realize that Putin may not want to be president again. Why would he? He has all the power and a base of power that makes him top dog without having to do top dog things that he does not like to do. Like meet the president of America and act like he likes him… 🙂

It is almost a case of “have one’s cake and eat it too”…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

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Windows to Russia Finally Made the China Search Engine Giant – Baidu…


Windows to Russia has seen China take the number three spot for countries viewing Windows to Russia. Germany was knocked to number four spot after a surge by China. America is number one and Russia is number two. I started to investigate what caused this big jump in Chinese viewers. Yesterday I discovered that my work has paid off in China. Baidu the largest Chinese search engine has indexed me and they are indexing Windows to Russia everyday as far as I can tell. The cache is up to date and they have the whole site indexed. All 3000 articles… 🙂

This has been a project of mine to get into the Asian search market. It has not been easy to be accepted and they have a very closed idea of what should be allowed or not. But I never gave up and kept applying every 6 months with a site submission. Finally it paid off! We have always had some articles indexed by Baidu and you will find they index lots of sites all  over the world. But to be indexed and Baidu for our name (Windows to Russia) like we do in Google is a great honor and privilege…

So what it means is that Windows to Russia does not have just a few articles in view of the Asian world, we have all of our articles available to be searched…

Baidu competes with Google Hong Kong, Yahoo! China, Microsoft’s Bing and MSN Messenger, Sina, Sohu’s Sogou, Wikipedia, NetEase’s Youdao, Tencent’s Soso.com and PaiPai, Alibaba’s Taobao, TOM Online, Xunlei’s Gougou and EachNet.

Baidu is the No. 1 search engine in China, controlling 63 percent of China’s market share as of January 2010, according to iResearch. The number of Internet users in China rose to 338 million by the end of June 2009, according to a report by the China Internet Network Information Center.

In an August 2010 The Wall Street Journal article, Baidu has played down its benefit from Google’s moving its China search service to Hong Kong, but Baidu’s share of revenue in China’s search—advertising market grew six percentage points in the second quarter to 70%, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

It is also evident that Baidu is attempting to enter the internet social network market. As of 2011, it is discussing the possibility of working with Facebook, which would lead to a Chinese version of the international social network, managed by Baidu. This plan, if executed, would face off Baidu with competition from the two popular Chinese social networks Renren and Kaixin001 as well as induce rivalry with instant-messaging giant, QQ. Wiki Article >>>

While this may not be high on your list for important things in life and Google rules on your side of the world. It is important to the life of Windows to Russia as a world site and this acceptance by Baidu into their system as a full fledged site means that China could take the number one spot next month as the biggest viewers of Windows to Russia. This also leaves Windows to Russia now able to utilize the Baidu advertising system and try to make enough money to pay for server fees and such…

A site like Windows to Russia does not get to utilize free hosting or even for that matter cheap hosting anymore… 🙂

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

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The Broom Industry is Poor in Russia and other Observations…


The broom industry is not a booming industry in Russia. I have written before about how they make their own brooms in Russia. It is just the way it is and somethings are not going to change that fast…

A Broom in Russia…

Snow and Ice Removal in Russia…

As I was walking the dog at around 9 am this morning. I came across 20 people sweeping at various places, but not a single one had a store bought broom. The old gentleman in the picture I took this morning at a children’s garden, was even more adaptive than most. Usually they pull all the leaves off the branches and make a broom, but this guy left the leaves on and swept away… 🙂

So what else did we find while Boza and I were walking this morning? I can tell you what we did not find and that upset my day a little bit. We did not find our milk truck to buy milk and cottage cheese at. It looks like they were there but it seems that they sold out before I got there and by the time we got to the other place to buy milk it was sold out also… 🙁 (Early bird gets the worm!)

So Boza and I kept walking and then I took a picture of a fruit and veggie stand. Now these stands are very common in Russia and they are literally put anywhere that they can think of putting them. Usually right in your way if they can get a way with it. But they are a great way of buying veggies and fruits. The price is always fair and quality is good. You just have to make sure you watch them because like any vendor they will try to put at least one bad apple in the batch to get rid of such things. I do question the validity of their scales that they weigh produce with. But that is why you get to know the vendor or you carry your own scale…

Boza loves to walk so I just kept going this morning and looked at the sights to be seen. It is always very interesting to walk near the train station in our town. The one thing about Russia is that trains and train stations are still in use and the usage seems to be growing. I can remember when I was little and the train station at our tiny town was shut down. It fell in disrepair and started to crumble soon after that. I use to ride my bike and sneak into the old station. It was like an era gone by and it was stopped in time inside. I also remember that they bulldozed it one day. That kind of stuff teaches you things about life…

Near the train stations you will find babushkas selling a variety of things. Some things they make and somethings they sell for a bigger company. You will find usually a market by a train station and in that market you will literally be able to buy anything. These markets are fantastic. This is the market that Sveta and I like to go to on Sundays. We stock up on fruits and veggies for the week…

I guess that is enough for today. Boza and I have things to do and get done. I have been making a table and it is time to finish that table. It is taking up a lot of room in the middle of the floor. I think Sveta wonders if that is its new home… 😉

Kyle
Windows to Russia!

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No Coffee – Still Chicory – Still Thinking’s…


I can say without a doubt that I have broke the caffeine habit. Just like when I stopped smoking 5 years ago, by just plain stopping, cold turkey as we call it. I did the same with coffee, cold turkey. There is a half a jar of coffee still left and it has been untouched for months now. I have no desire to even make a cup of coffee. But I really like my chicory and that I will drink 3 or 4 cups a day of it…

Well as the title says, “still thinking’s” and that is what I am doing right now, along with that cup of chicory…

First thing that I was thinking about is the country Turkey. As I wrote before, Sveta and I want to travel to Turkey. It looks like we will try around the beginning of October. Looking like a go ahead in our book for about two weeks. That is going to be fun. Turkey is a huge vacation place for Russians…

Second thing or things that I am thinking about are items like Fukushima in Japan, NATO meddling in Libya, the Western war drums beating over Syria, Palestine’s bid for statehood at the UN and lots of other things that just mill around in my head…

I mean for example that did you know that they now have pronounced that the Fukushima nuclear accident is worse than Chernobyl in the Soviet times? They even are starting to wonder about relocating part of Tokyo. (Article) It is true but I forget that you don’t see this stuff on the main media and that is a disgrace. You need to step out of the box…

Just like you get no truth on Libya, Syria and the Palestine’s situation. You do get a one sided view that is programed just for you and it is designed to make you happy with what you see and hear…

But enough of that. As I always say: I have got people to see, places to go, a dog to walk and cats to chase…

I think Sveta gets tired of hearing me say that… 🙂

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

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A Russian Rassolnyk Soup Recipe…


Rassolnyk recipe: This is a wonderful soup that is delicious. This version will be made with kidneys and beef. It many times will be made with fish and I have seen it made with chicken before. The kidney version is a time consuming soup that takes more effort than just tossing everything in a pan and cooking. The beef kidney has to be treated properly or you will have a tainted tasting soup. If you do as the instructions say. You will have a wonderful delight of a treat…

Ingredients:
1 lb diced beef
1 beef kidney
6 ea salted cucumbers
1 large peeled and chopped onion
1 peeled and diced carrot
Fresh chopped parsley (your taste)
2 tbsp cooking oil
4 ea peeled and diced potatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup sour cream (20%+)
1 tbsp flour
2 cloves of crushed garlic

Method:
Important: Several hours before cooking cut the kidney into two halves . Using a small, sharp, pointed knife, trim out the veins, the ureter, and all fat and put into large amount of cool water in a soup pan. Change the water often as every 15 to 20 minutes. (some people soak over night and change water less often) Then pour hot boiling water onto it. Boil the kidney several times, removing water, and pouring new hot water again. To be honest maybe you should do this step three times. Then finally thoroughly wash the kidney in warm water… (Do not skimp on prepping the kidney!)

Then boil the kidney again, together with the beef, having started to boil from cool water. Boil until beef is done…

Meanwhile – Chop the onion, carrots, and cucumbers. Put them into a another (second) soup pan, add oil, add some stock from the first soup pan, cover with a lid and simmer (low heat) until ready (the ingredients must become soft).

Now take a fry pan – Put the flour and tomato paste onto the frying pan and fry them together for a while. (medium heat and this is the thickener for the soup)

Strain the stock from the beef and kidneys and put it with the stewed ingredients (onions, carrots and cucumbers) in the second soup pan. Start boiling the second pan again…

Then add potatoes cut into small pieces in the second soup pan, then add the tomato paste fried with the flour, stir and mix well. Keep boiling and will will thicken slightly…

Take the kidney and beef chunks out of the first pan. Make sure to dice the kidney and beef. Then add diced beef and kidney to the second pan of soup. (other words you have only one pan now. But lots of dirty pans… :))

Then reboil the soup…

The rozsolnyk is ready when potatoes are done. Put the chopped parsley and crushed garlic into it.

When serving, put some sour cream into the bowl on top of the soup…

Makes more than enough to feed a hungry family and the dog… 🙂

Oh – My – Yummy…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: I have seen this soup made with rice or oats before. Spices can be varied, some like a bay leaf to be added when boiled the last time. You may salt and pepped to taste but if you use real salt cucumbers then adjust. You may also serve the sour cream on the side in a bowl for those who do not care for sour cream…

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The Russian police come in many forms…


The Russian Police are so different from what you consider Police in America. In America a Policeman seems to be responsible for everything in his jurisdiction. An American cop can pull you over for traffic violations as well as come to your house if a disturbance happens. In America that same cop that just gave you a ticket two hours ago in your city, may be the same cop that comes when you have a break-in into your house…

This is not true in Russia! I have had a hard time getting a grasps on the idea that a cop has only one job and that job is a specific part of society. If he is a road police then take it for what it says. (Road Police only.) You do not have a road police give a crap about if your home was just robbed. Just the same you do not have a cop that will come to your home if you are robbed and care about if you break all the laws in the world with your car. You will not see very many cops have a car to drive around in and the odds of being pulled over by a cop is virtually nil. Russia has road cop stations and they are well marked in advance in case you need to go around them. As we travel Russia it is pretty easy to tell where the road cops are at most times. The city local police walk a beat around our town and they do have a couple of vehicles to get around when needed…

It is very strange to see a car wreck and cops are nearby who act like they do not even see that wreck. Example you have police who are working near a building, (like say a train station) they are doing their job and checking people for issues around the train station. But there could be a 10 car pileup happen in front of the train station and they could care less about the 10 car pileup. In fact they may not even look up from their job… 🙂

They have no responsibility to that 10 car pile up and I have many times in the past said something like: “Why are they all over there when there is a 10 car pile up over here?” That is when Sveta looks at me like, Are you crazy! That is not their job. I have learned to accept the way it is, but it just shows that what is ingrained in you takes a long time, if ever, to leave your thoughts and feelings…

A wreck in Russia means that you will wait for hours before a road cop comes to deal with the wreck. Yes and even if a road cop is close enough to throw rocks at, he will not help you. Unless he would be the one called to take care of the wreck…

I use to find it irritating when I first came to Russia. I thought it was wrong. But after 5 years I do not see it that way anymore. I appreciate the fact that one man does not have the power to control my life in multiple ways. A road cop is about cars. He cannot and could careless about my passport. That road cop only cares about my insurance, drivers licenses and car registration. He can not bother me about anything personally associated with my stay in Russia. Now there are certain police who can check your passport and other paperwork. They are all over the metro and train stations. But they could care less if you drive a car and if they knew that you did not have a drivers license and they watched you drive off, they would not care…

So if a cop is walking a beat down the sidewalk in our city and I drove by him at 200 km per hour in a 40 km per hour zone. He could care less. I doubt he would even call anyone. In the same token, if you wrecked right in front of him. He could care less. I doubt he would even call anyone. But if you are mugging a babushka then he will do something. But in Russia if you try to mug a babushka then you will get your butt kicked by that babushka. They are pretty tough… 🙂

An off duty cop is just that. Off duty! He is just like anyone else at that point. We have several that live in our building and they definitely keep a low profile. Like I said babushkas are tough and that is who rules the building…

I like it that way and hope that it does not change in Russia. That is why I love Russia…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

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